Indonesia backtracks on allowing alcoholic drinks investments for foreign firms

This picture taken on February 24, 2017 shows bottles of beer at the Stark Beer factory in Singaraja, a regency on Indonesia's Bali island. - AFP

JAKARTA, March 2 (Reuters): Indonesia's President Joko Widodo on Tuesday reinstated a ban on new foreign investment in the manufacturing of alcoholic drinks, just a few weeks after agreeing to relax restrictions as part of a broader effort to attract investors.

The world's biggest predominantly Muslim country banned new foreign investment in alcoholic beverages in the 1990s, but the president issued a regulation last month that would have permitted it in provinces where Muslims are not the majority of the local population.